Chapter 231: Danger is Opportunity

Before entering the house, He Lingchuan heard the clanging sound. The He residence was full of people, unloading furniture, dismantling courtyard walls, and moving materials, busy and hot.

This was Lady Ying carrying out her renovation plan; limited by the budget, she had to handle every link herself and check it personally. He Yue originally suggested starting construction in late spring, which was two months later, which could save a lot of money, but was decisively rejected by his mother's aesthetics.

So ugly, can't stand it for a day! The house was not as big as the old house in Heishuicheng, and construction in the west was bound to be heard in the east, without a moment of peace. He Chunhua and He Yue were at the government office all day, and He Lingchuan couldn't practice at home, so he had to go out to eat, drink, and play, and even the Rock Wolf Lu Xin, who had sensitive hearing, suggested: "Otherwise, let's open a room at an inn?"

Fortunately, he wandered around all day, the sun was about to set, and after returning to the courtyard to take a bath and coming out, the construction stopped.

Workers, like employers, have to go home to eat.

That pair of He father and son also returned home, also bathed and changed clothes, and the family gathered at the dinner table.

He Lingchuan glanced at the table and was surprised: "Eh, hot pot today?"

"What hot pot?" Lady Ying laughed. "This is called Antique Soup, Dunyu locals love to eat this."

A thin-skinned iron pot on the table was actually divided into inner and outer grids, and the soup was bubbling. There were many raw foods on the table, meat marinated or sliced, as well as a few pickled vegetables and a few vegetables.

Vegetables are not easy to get in this season, even Chinese cabbage.

For He Lingchuan, isn't this hot pot? He sat down, lifted the meat and swished it a few times, and dipped it in some seasoning. It was fresh and spicy, and surprisingly delicious.

He Yue kept staring at him, seeing him swish several pieces of meat without stopping, obviously a bit disappointed: "Brother, how is the taste?"

"Very good." He Lingchuan ate meat in large mouthfuls, his voice blurred. "If you don't eat it, it will be gone."

"Not spicy?" The soup in the inner and outer circles looked no different, but in fact, the inner circle added a lot of peppers, and he almost sprayed it out after just one taste.

It's numb and spicy! He Lingchuan had long seen the floating peppercorns and chili peppers.

What's wrong with this, isn't it just a super... simplified version of the red pot, the difference is that there is no iconic red oil.

In the past, when he had no money at the end of the month, he could hold a whole bottle of yellow lantern sauce and eat it directly with rice.

Coming to this world, he almost couldn't taste the spiciness, and he still wasn't used to it for the first half year.

Yes, he still isn't used to it until now.

With this familiar spicy taste, he almost wanted to look up to the sky and roar.

But he still had to be reserved on the surface: "It's okay, don't you think this taste is quite satisfying?"

"Yes." Although the tongue was stinging, it was surprisingly refreshing. Except for He Lingchuan, the other three in the He family were mostly swishing the white soup in the outer circle, occasionally swishing the spicy soup in the inner circle, otherwise they couldn't bear it. "It's a pity I dare not use more."

He Lingchuan threw down his chopsticks and turned around outside, and when he came back, he put a large bowl on the table: "Here, if you feel spicy, stuff this into your mouth."

The three looked, it was actually a large bowl of snow powder!

Lady Ying was a little worried: "Where did you dig it?" If this kid dared to say he dug it from the ground, she would definitely beat him until he didn't recognize himself.

"On the tree in my courtyard." He Lingchuan wasn't stupid. "My courtyard hasn't started construction yet, the dust can't fly there, it's very clean."

The three were relieved, taking a spoon to scoop some snow powder to eat, and sure enough, it could instantly weaken the fire and spiciness in their mouths.

Only then did He Chunhua ask: "Any movement from the Li family today?"

"Yes." He Lingchuan swished meat while telling the story of Li Shuang coming to bribe.

"I have been to Xiangpuji in Dunyu." Lady Ying had the most say in this aspect. "The things sold are okay, the waiter said there are many people before and after the customs, such as the end of the year, the Lantern Festival, the Shangsi Festival, and the Cold Clothes Festival, and it maintains a horizontal balance at ordinary times."

He Lingchuan was indignant: "Trying to bribe people with this little money, who are you looking down on?"

"Li Shuang hopes the government will delay the detention of his father for a few days." He Chunhua sipped glutinous rice wine. "Striving for a little more time, so that the Li family can report to the capital. Once Minister Li exerts pressure, maybe Li Rong won't have to be locked up."

"He played a wishful thinking, but treated others as fools." He Yue laughed. "This kind of money must not be accepted." Otherwise, if the Li family reports to the Minister, they will expose the newly appointed Xiazhou Superintendent for taking bribes.

He Lingchuan took a bite of snow powder, only feeling refreshed in his mouth: "Li Rong's jail cell is set, do you want to put Li Zhi in too? It should be easy to find his faults, and you can collect the 150,000 silver taels of guarantee money by the way."

Upon arriving in Dunyu, even he, a second-generation ancestor, felt the pain of lack of money.

"Not in a hurry." He Chunhua was calm. "Let him hang, worried day and night, so the Li family can cooperate properly. The front line needs money and grain, and we need people; these all have to fall on the four great families. They are the snake heads; if they don't show up and don't make concessions, other small and medium-sized families below won't contribute sincerely."

Lady Ying also asked on the side: "What about the front line? Didn't the Xunzhou army break through Baichegang and march south? Will they attack Dunyu?"

"Not so fast for the time being, Dunyu is closer to the southern boundary of Xiazhou than the north. Xunzhou cavalry from Baichegang to Dunyu still need to run for a day and a night, and this is on the premise of no obstruction." He Yue took the conversation. "This is also the reason why the four great families have been holding their purses tight and refusing to cooperate until now."

Lady Ying was furious: "Death is imminent, and they still care about that little money in their hands!"

"If Nian Zanli's army can push to Dunyu, they will retreat south in advance. The disaster of war can only fall on them at most, losing some property."

He Yue sighed: "No matter when, the poor are always the most unlucky."

"The Zhan family wanted to leave, but now seeing me take office, they are motionless, wanting to see if I can hold on." He Chunhua said slowly. "These wealthy gentlemen are calculating, thinking that the state treasury should pay for the war, and it has nothing to do with them, so they won't open their purses until the last moment. The ones in Qiansong County were like this, and the ones in Xiazhou are also like this; the legacy of 'Baichegang' with one heart and one mind has long since vanished."

Otherwise, he wouldn't have to spend so much effort to handle the Li family.

Lady Ying looked left and right, seeing that the servants were standing far away, then whispered: "It's inappropriate to say this, but I'm quite glad that Old Man Li left at this time."

"If Old Man Li were alive, these four great families would be as hard to chew as a turtle shell." He Yue laughed. "Now, they can be broken one by one."

Li Rong is about to go to the jail cell.

That kind of place, tsk tsk, although it is only a place to detain suspects, the environment is worse than a regular prison, not to mention the filth and dirt, someone was bitten by a flea inside and immediately had the shakes, dying directly from the disease. Even if the Li family had bribed the bailiffs, could the Li Second Master, who was used to fine clothes and food, stand that kind of place?

Li Zhi is only released on bail, and he will have to go to jail with his brother after the case is tried in two months. In order to strive for lenient treatment, he will also cooperate well with Superintendent He. After all, he cannot bet everything on Minister Li; who knows what kind of temper Superintendent He has, what if he is impervious to oil and salt? Besides, Li Shuang. After all, his seniority is not enough; after the two elders are both in jail, if he wants to get involved in the Li family's power, he might have to borrow the official power. Besides, before Li Zhi is tried, he will definitely arrange his successor, and this person must not be Li Rong's descendant.

The huge Li family will be very lively in the next two or three months.

He Chunhua was afraid that they would be united and work together against the outside world. Like today, it is the best.

That old man Li Zhao, was he still thinking about how to fight and break wrists with him before he passed away?

Heh, naive.

How could he give Old Man Li a chance to fight with him?

"The enemy in the north is the enemy of the entire Xiazhou." He Chunhua pondered. "On this point, we can make an article."

The Xunzhou army has entered the territory of Xiazhou, which is not only a geographical event but also a major breakthrough in the psychological defense line of the people of Xiazhou.

Including the four great families, everyone has a sense of crisis.

Crisis, crisis, danger is opportunity if used well.

He Yue's face also became serious: "What ideas does Father have?"

He Chunhua said decisively: "I just took office, the first battle must be won!"

Whether he is rectifying internal affairs, military affairs, or cleaning up a few noble families in Xiazhou, no matter how grand he makes it, he is just making trouble in his own territory.

Commonly known as bullying at home.

At most, it is to make the wealthy and noble families fear but not submit.

Only by fighting and winning against external strong enemies can he, the newly promoted Superintendent, truly stand firm in Xiazhou and establish prestige.

Subsequent plans can be fully carried out.

This battle, this victory is too important and must be carefully planned.

"The quality of the Xiazhou army is loose, but Nian Zanli's army is the Northern Demon-Resisting Army, tempered for many years." He Chunhua shook his head. "In a head-on battle, the chance of winning is too small."

Battles must be fought bit by bit, and meals must be eaten bite by bite; he is not discouraged.

If the Xiazhou army was so easy to lead, it wouldn't be his turn to take this fat job, right? He Yue couldn't help but say: "The recruitment order has also been issued, but the effect is not good."

"No one wants to join the army to fight, this is not strange. Military service is not something you can not go if you want to." He Chunhua raised his eyebrows. "What I care about is that the population in the account book is vastly different from the actual number of residents. This point is very prominent in Ruxian; I went to the county to check it specifically at that time, and the number of households registered was only about 1,500, but I asked the local elders, and Ruxian has at least 13,000 people; let's talk about Guazhou, last summer's Fire Jumping Festival, the natural river square in Guaxiang that can accommodate 3,000 people was full. You know, the number of households registered in Guaxiang is only 230."

"Thousands of threads, all must be done one by one." Eating too much spicy food, his nose was red, He Chunhua wiped it with a towel. "Take your time, I hope Heaven gives me a little more time."

He Lingchuan couldn't help but say: "Father, what can I do?"

He was so idle all day, doing nothing.

"Good boy, you are sensible too." He Chunhua patted his shoulder, gratified. "Don't worry, there will be an opportunity soon."

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 232 =====